less fun?

[humunuku]

Is the whole AT experience less fun than it use to be? The whole experience, meaning the planning before the hike as well as including the hike. It seems like back, oh lets say 25 years ago, people were less worried about all the details and more about just going to hike (this is just based on some stories that i've heard, not first hand knowledge). Present day, It seems like a lot of people are analyzing everything, a lot. EG gear spreadsheets, with weight to the gram, setting up a schedule for every day of the hike (months in advance) worring that something is an ounce heavier that another thing, plannig meals to the calorie, ect...

now before people start going off on me, I am a fan of HYOH, I do believe that lighter pack is easier to carry and easier on the body, and you have to prepare enough to buy all the gear you need. But I'm just wondering if todays world has added some work/stress to the experience.

[Yahtzee]

I totally see your pt., but I think where all of the info gets in the way is when it is brought on the trail and affects the experience. I plan not so much to plan but to think about hiking and the trail. Same for gear weight and so on.

And the end of the day there aren't many threads about describing the 2170 miles of silent walking. If anything, hiking is at least the absence of everything else. So if all of this knowhow gets in the way of the walking, then it has gone too far. For me, all manner of trail talk is just poor substitution for a trail walk.

[rafe]

Is the whole AT experience less fun than it use to be? The whole experience, meaning the planning before the hike as well as including the hike. It seems like back, oh lets say 25 years ago, people were less worried about all the details and more about just going to hike (this is just based on some stories that i've heard, not first hand knowledge).

Have you read any of the journals in the Rodale anthology, published in 1975? (Hiking the Appalachian Trail, Rodale Press, 1975) It's out of print, but you can find it in most decent libraries. Bottom line, there's no "trend" here -- there were anal hikers back then (anal, like you wouldn't believe) and there were some who just winged it, like Granny Gatewood.

As for more fun or less fun... it's what you make of it.

As for following the white blazes... it's certainly true that for some of the very first thru-hikers, this was nearly impossible to do. They frequently found themselves quite lost, miles from the "official" trail. I don't remember any of these folks backtracking to "remedy" their errors.

[Programbo]

I think the main difference is that in say the mid-70`s or so only the people who were really into the whole, mountains/nature/slow and easy/escape the rat race mentality even knew the trail existed or cared to go there..Now it seems everybody knows about the trail and wants to get out there for a dozen different reasons (Hence the HYOH motto..Something like that wasn`t really needed or spoken of back then as most everyone out there was the same or there for the same reasons)...It was rare to find anyone worried about "ultra-light" or miles..Never weighed my pack..I carried what I needed and what it weighed was what it weighed...Hammocks???...2600 cubic inch packs for a thru hike???..You made a stove out of a soda can???...Never heard of a trekking pole and yet people managed to hike the whole trail without falling all over the place...Had those nice stiff heavy mountaineering boots and we still knocked out the miles and people seemed to have less foot/ankle problems then...But mainly people just were relaxed and mellow and it was all a beautiful escape...No matter what stresses laid back in your hometown or private life you could always know the trail was there and unchanging and you`d find peace and solitude whenever you returned there...Now it seems like most of the things you used to go to the trail to escape are ON the trail but also combined with modern haste/tension/ultra-this/extreme-that/reality-show cliques of "Look I`m on Survivor AT".. Ugh.. I`m probably sounding like a cranky old crackpot longing for the "good old days" which shall never return..But this of course is my take on what you asked about..I`m sure others will have a different view and will even say today it is better..Now where did I put my 8-Track of Rocky Mountain High? :)

[firemountain]

Before my hike I spent a great deal of time considering each item of gear and planning my diet. Weight and nutrition are both very important and (I believe) deserve much attention. However, during my hike these things were almost completely in the background. I rarely 'talked gear' which I can do very well. Now that my hike is completed I'm back on the internet searching gear websites and forums to try to shave weight off for my hike next fall. To rhyme with something Lance Armstrong said: 'It's all about the hike'
-Early Bird

[fiddlehead]

my first attempted thru was in '77 and my last in '02. I don't think planning, anxiety, preparation, etc. has changed much at all.
sure it's easy to get lots of info free and cheap now and many more are knowlegable about it and the internet makes it all easy to find out everything.
But, back then, we still did our best to have the right equip. We read Ed Garvey's book from cover to cover more than once trying to find out the right stuff. We still went out not knowing what it's like to climb a muddy, Ga mtn in the rain and hope the shelter was dry. We still hoped the AYCE that we heard about thru the grapevine would be open by the time we got there. We still had white blazes to follow (or blue ones depending on your philosophy). We had hostels or firehouses in most towns and somehow knew about them thru word of mouth.
The big difference that i see is that we all banded together more as a happy family back then because the numbers were lower. Today's hikers sometimes even pass each other on the trail and don't even say hi. I think that's a shame.
Fun? I had a lot my first hike, and i had a lot my last. I couldn't tell you which one was more or less fun. They were just different.

[gsingjane]

I was up at a Y camp this weekend and had the great fun of discovering a bound set of Backpacker magazines dating from Issue 18 (starting in 1975, the year I graduated high school!). I was not hiking back then, except incidental to Girl Scouting and canoeing, but a couple things struck me from the magazine. First, there was much more emphasis on DIY stuff - making your own jacket, sleeping bag, even tent. Lots of articles about fixing or jerry-rigging gear to multi-function. The clothes and especially the boots looked stiff and heavy (wow, that Woolrich stuff, looked like it weighed 5# just for a shirt!). There were also many more survival stories. "I got lost on my first backpacking trip and survived 20 days in a blizzard!" complete with pictures of the hiker in the hospital, recovering. The trail food looked unbelievably awful, these bizarre disk things that were supposed to turn back into chicken cacciatore or beef wellington, yeah, right. Finally, there was much more political or environmental coverage, discussing specific plans and laws for different wilderness areas, and the magazine took a very partial stance ... no "on one hand this, on the other hand, that" stuff.

Interestingly (and pertinent to this thread, I think) there were many articles and editor's notes indicating concern that the wilderness was being overrun by trendy and ill-prepared hikers. There was a definite sense of longing for the simpler, purer days of the 50's and 60's, when the people out there weren't "pricey, geared up" hikers but true survivalists who knew what they were doing and didn't rely on fancy gear to get them through (sound familiar to anyone?). There was even a regular column dedicated to "useless trail gear," making fun of companies that jumped on the backpacking bandwagon and made ridiculous items that no true backpacker would consider carrying.

There wasn't much commentary on planning for hikes, although the gist of things certainly seemed to be, you should unless you wanted YOUR picture in the hospital! But I also came away very, very grateful that our technology (and our hairstyles!) are so much better today.

Jane in CT

[Programbo]

But I also came away very, very grateful that our technology (and our hairstyles!) are so much better today.Jane in CT

Aww..I miss the big hair from the 80`s :(

[WalkinHome]

It all boils down to one foot in front of the other - 5 million times +/-. Keeping your head screwed on straight (barring injuries) will get you to the end. Be safe

[Gaiter]

i don't know what it was like in the past, but i always have a great adventure from hiking, haven't done a thru, but still its what you make of it, how much stress do you allow to be under with planning it?
just get out there and have fun!!!!

[Small Steps]

Is the whole AT experience less fun than it use to be?

Present day, It seems like a lot of people are analyzing everything, a lot. EG gear spreadsheets, with weight to the gram, setting up a schedule for every day of the hike (months in advance) worring that something is an ounce heavier that another thing, plannig meals to the calorie, ect...

In the 70's, 80's and 90's did you have the internet and a web site like this to hear about everyones planning and questions.

I dont' think that it is any more fun or any less fun. I just think the planning and the asking of question is a lot more public these days.

I am getting ready for a section hike later this spring, and I am planning the sh@t out of it. I will make sure to write down what I am going to do every day and every minute of every day. Then the first night I will use that paper to start my fire and all will be good...

For me personal it's not planning to make the hike better, well some of it is, but most of the planning is to dream about being on the trail as I am stuck in my office. The internet has provided me an outlet to do this with a huge audance, and you an outlet to read about it.

In the olden times you would have never read or heard about my planning.

[rafe]

In the olden times you would have never read or heard about my planning.

Exactly. We didn't need the internet to be anal. We just had to be anal in private. ;)

[Jester2000]

There was even a regular column dedicated to "useless trail gear. . . "

But for truly high quality useless gear, one must come to the BSR Useless Gear Contest at Trail Days, where all of next years top of the line useless gear will be demonstrated.

The strange thing about the planning that I've noticed is that there seems to be no correlation between good planning and a successful thru-hike, although one could say that there are some who need that kind of dedicated planning in order to even get out on the trail.

And then there are some of us (not me, though) who can just decide one day to grab gear and get on the trail.

I think the trail offers maximum fun to whoever looks for it on the trail, regardless of what year or decade one hikes. For the 2007 hikers, the "Good Old Days" are right now.

[Chache]

Its all about the Journey ,Grasshopper. I think all the planing just extends the enjoyment before the hike. If you can't be camping next best thing is planing to.

[Gray Blazer]

I was at the bash and it looked like all the hikers were having lots of fun. And all that trail magic!

[tokin]

Part of all of the planning also has to do with how many people are attempting it now. The numbers of people attempting and finishing are both increasing. Now I don't know if the percentage of successful thru-hikers is going up, but if more people are succeeding, it can probably be at least partially credited to being better prepared. How many people drop off in the first 100 miles again? That percentage must decrease with knowledge, even if they don't all finish.

[rafe]

On the ATC website, in a paragraph describing why people quit or fail at thru-hikes (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.jkLXJ8MQKtH/b.788745/k.9CE2/FAQ_ThruHiking.htm), the last item they list is "no sense of humor." From my experience, that item should have been first on the list. :D

[emerald]

Someone well-known among Maine A.T. trail maintainers once included on a packing list distributed to his crews "a durable sense of humor." This item may weigh nothing, but it might be the most valuable item of all.

[Appalachian Tater]

I think more planning of equipment ahead of time makes the hike more fun because of fewer problems with gear and a lighter pack to carry.

Schedules are a different matter.

[Programbo]

I think more planning of equipment ahead of time makes the hike more fun because of fewer problems with gear and a lighter pack to carry.....Schedules are a different matter.

Perhaps..But I think for every person who might quit because their pack is to heavy another quits because it`s to light..."Ultra-Light" hiking started out as more extreme challenge for seasoned, fit accomplished backpackers.. To push their limits..It involves living a more Spartan life on the trail.. Unfortunately a lot of thru-hikers who have little or in many cases no outdoors experience start off from Springer trying to live for 5 months in an Ultra-Light style and that is to much to ask of them...They aren`t physically fit enough to carry all they need to life comfortably and add some enjoyment to their trail "life" that they quickly grow homesick or disillusioned.. Or whatever..What do I know...:confused: